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GOAL! Scotland 1-1 North Macedonia (Rastoder 57)
Bardhi whips the corner hard towards the near post. Rastoder rises highest and glances an unstoppable header across Gunn and into the right-hand portion of the net! What a response by the visitors, who have scored their first goal in Group B1, and their first goal in a year.
56 min: Adams should have had an assist to his name already – Oh Billy! – but he’s got one now. And it was highly impressive work, holding off two opponents yet still having the strength and guile to poke forward for McGinn. However, North Macedonia aren’t done yet, because they go upfield, win one corner, then another, and …
GOAL! Scotland 1-0 North Macedonia (McGinn 54)
No longer! But Dimitrievski could do nothing about this. Graham sends a long header down the middle. Adams battles two defenders on the edge of the D, holding the ball up before poking it down the channel for McGinn, who is clear! McGinn lashes low and hard across Dimitrievski and into the bottom right. Hampden roars at last!
53 min: Robertson battles to win a corner down the left. He swings it under the bar. Dimitrievski punches clear, albeit not convincingly, and the ball pings off the top of Graham’s head and out for a goal kick. It continues to be a banner evening for the Macedonian keeper.
51 min: That shock nearly doubles as VAR has a check for a North Macedonia penalty, Doriev dinking a cross in from the left, the ball deflecting off the sliding Graham and out for a corner. Did it hit Graham’s arm, which was sticking up in the air? Thankfully no, and nothing comes of the set piece.
49 min: Hampden was preparing to roar there, but the shock of that miss has really rattled everyone. Palpable shock.
47 min: Scotland should be leading. That should have been the perfect start to the second half. If the hosts don’t go on to win this, that miss will stay with Gilmour for a long time. You could see the blood draining from the poor chap’s face as he picked himself up from the turf, knowing full well what he’s just done.
45 min 40 sec: Musliu doesn’t deal with a ball rolling down the Scotland right and air-kicks. Adams chases the loose ball and cuts back from the byline. Gilmour can’t miss from six yards … but somehow does, leaning back and blazing over the bar. That’s up there with Chris Iwelumo, I’m afraid.
North Macedonia get the second half started. No changes.
HALF TIME: Slovenia 0-0 Switzerland. The other game in Group B1 is goalless at the break. The Tartan Army will be praying for a Swiss surge in the second half, in order to keep what little remains of those promotion play-off hopes alive.
Half-time postbag. “That save from Dimitrievski is up there with one of the best reflex saves I’ve seen. It barely got a mention in BBC commentary preferring to concentrate on the shot by McTominay. But what a save” – Tony Mason
“Andy Robertson gained his first Scotland cap while a Dundee United player, during the one and only season he spent at Tannadice, 2013-14. So we’ll always have that. But we also have the memory of his last game in Tangerine, the Scottish Cup final defeat to St Johnstone. St Johnstone, ffs! I’m still not over that. The Scotland captain and now joint record cap holder has probably consoled himself with Champions League and Premiership winners medals, whereas United spent much of the last decade in the Scottish Championship and competing in the Tunnocks Teacake / Irn Bru Challenge trophy. So I hope he’s happy” – Simon McMahon
HALF TIME: Scotland 0-0 North Macedonia
A few boos as Scotland trudge down the tunnel. The hosts haven’t been great, but Dimitrievski has been the outstanding player, so it’s swings and roundabouts.
45 min +1: … North Macedonia nearly score! The corner, coming in from the left, is half-cleared by McTominay. Elmas shovels a pass down the inside-left channel for Bardhi, who spins and ripples the side netting. A big portion of Hampden thought that was in. It was close. Not sure Gunn was getting there had it been on target.
45 min: Porteous, facing his own goal with the ball bouncing down the middle of the park, and under no pressure, inexplicably batters the ball out for a corner. From which …
44 min: Robertson crosses again from a deep position on the left, but this time there’s nobody in dark blue in the North Macedonia box, and Dimitrievski claims without any drama. The Hampden Roar turns into the Hampden Harumph. The punters not 100 percent happy.
42 min: A free kick for Scotland out on the left, 4o yards out. Robertson curls in. It’s half cleared. Gannon-Doak races to meet the loose ball, and thrashes it into the crowded box. His shot is blocked and cleared, and though there are a couple of half-hearted claims for handball, neither the referee nor VAR show any interest whatsoever in awarding a penalty.
41 min: This is getting old. Gannon-Doak advances down the right and crosses low. Adams waits to tap in, but Dimitrievski gets down to dink the cross offline, and though Adams gets to the rebound, he can only attempt a backheel from a tight angle on the right, which wins a corner from which nothing comes. Dimitrievski, though!
39 min: Dimitrievski again! Adams releases McTominay down the inside-right channel and into the box. McTominay opts for power rather than a cute slot, and batters the ball straight at the keeper. Who is North Macedonia’s hero so far all right.
38 min: A simple punt down the middle releases Adams on goal. Adams reaches the edge of the box before aiming for the top left. Dimitrievski, who is putting showreel together tonight, sticks out an arm to divert the ball over the bar, a stunning reaction. Though it technically doesn’t matter, because the flag goes up for offside. But still, what a save!
36 min: A long pass for McTominay to chase down the right. Dimitrievski races out to the edge of his box to claim, and takes a whack for his trouble. McTominay was entitled to stick a foot in, the ball was there to be won. Thankfully there’s no lasting damage.
34 min: Gilmour flings a cross in from the right. McTominay tries to replicate his world-famous bicycle kick against Denmark, the memory of which is now less than a week shy of its first birthday. Over the bar, but 11 out of 10 for ambition. That’s more like it!
33 min: More slow play. To illustrate further, the BBC Scotland commentary team launch a deep dive into the pros and cons of the new five-second throw-in rule.
31 min: Scotland stroke it around to little effect. All too slow again.
29 min: McGinn’s clever line-breaking pass down the inside-right channel allows Adams to send the ball wide right. Gannon-Doak cuts back for Porteous, who swings long for McTominay, who wins a header at the far stick but can’t keep the ball from sailing over the bar. Scotland look much better when they pick up the pace, which so far has not happened enough for Sebastien Pocognoli’s liking.
27 min: … and the third corner of the sequence, sent in from the left by McGinn, is eyebrowed on by Adams. A cute flick that’s heading into the top right, with the aid of a small deflection. Dimitrievski, who has been excellent in the North Macedonia goal so far, is equal to it, parrying up and away.
26 min: … then another …
25 min: Gannon-Doak’s sheer tenacity wins a corner down the right off Alioski, who was trying to shepherd a stationary ball (!) out of play. One corner leads to another …
24 min: A bit of attention to Elmas and his sore foot. Then the game restarts.
22 min: The free kick comes in from the left and Tierney heads harmlessly over. That’s not the best refereeing. But perhaps that’s in the referee’s mind seconds later, when he elects not to book Adams for standing on Elmas’s foot. It wasn’t a great challenge, Adams arriving way too late, albeit with clumsiness rather than intent. Adams and Scotland get away with one.
21 min: McTominay is clipped by Ilievski as he advances down the inside left. The loose ball is picked up by Gilmour, who slides down the channel to release Robertson into the box. But then the whistle goes for the foul. Scotland are aghast, they wanted the advantage to play out. But it’s just a free kick.
19 min: Gannon-Doak is much better stationed on dribbling duty, and he takes on Alioski down the right. He reaches the byline and cuts back, but Dimitrievski is on point to smother.
18 min: Gannon-Doak takes a throw-in. The ball slips from his hands at the very moment he starts the forward thrust. Foul throw. Gannon-Doak has the good grace to look embarrassed. Hey, it’s cold and wet in Glasgow tonight.
16 min: Ferguson wins a header 30 yards out, powering the ball down the middle of the park and into the North Macedonian box. McTominay, on the penalty spot and with his back to goal, takes a touch, turns, and whips a shot towards the bottom right. Dimitrievski turns it around the post, wonderfully, and nothing comes of the corner. That would have been a fine goal.
14 min: Gilmour overcooks a pass down the left for Robertson, who nevertheless is able to hook back from the byline, just in time. The ball doesn’t quite squeak its way through to McTominay, but that’s better from Scotland, who raised the tempo and nearly got their reward.
13 min: A little bit of space for Doriev out on the left. He aims a curler towards the top right. Just too high, just too far to the right. But not a million miles away. Gunn had it covered. Had that gone in, it would have been some way to break North Macedonia’s scoring duck in this Nations League campaign.
12 min: McTominay and McGinn exchange passes down the middle. The ball’s laid off to Gilmour, who shuttles it left for Robertson. With the headlines waiting to be written, Scotland’s record-equalling captain blooters wildly over from close range.
10 min: Scotland pass it around for a long time. It’s all in their own half, though, and North Macedonia seem happy enough to sit back and let the hosts huff and puff themselves out. Eventually Gilmour clanks a simple pass intended for Gannon-Doak straight to the nearest white shirt. A lot of effort for not a great deal of return.
8 min: Gashtarov takes a heavy touch, 40 yards out, and gifts possession to Ferguson, who lays off to McTominay. Adams can’t break free of his marker and there’s no pass on. Another opportunity to move on the North Macedonian box is wasted.
6 min: Gannon-Doak wriggles out of a tight spot on the right and feeds Adams infield. The switch is on, but Adams doesn’t spot Robertson on the other flank, hesitates, and the chance to launch an attack is gone.
4 min: North Macedonia spend a little time on the ball, and there goes that Hampden Roar!
3 min: Robertson is into the action quickly. He crosses from the left. The ball’s deflected and sent on a strange arc towards the top-left corner, but Musliu heads away so keeper Dimitrievski doesn’t have to deal with an awkward bounce. Adams was lurking, too.
2 min: The Hampden Roar segues into a chant in honour of Andy Robertson, who is now officially joint top of Scotland’s all-time record appearances list. Other than that, there’s not been any early action to react to, never mind sing about.
Scotland kick off. Hampden roars.
The teams are out! Scotland in their famous dark blue, North Macedonia in second-choice white. The anthems first. North Macedonia’s isn’t particularly memorable, but to be fair it might be a slow burner, like Paul’s Boutique or Scott 4. It’s not a patch on Flower of Scotland: apologies to our North Macedonian readers, no offence intended, but ask yourself: what is?‡ We’ll be off in a minute.
‡: Answer: La Marseillaise. The Star-Spangled Banner too. Probably Brazil’s. And Italy’s. Actually, let’s stop pulling at this string.
Sebastien Pocognoli talks to the BBC. “I hope [Ché Adams and Scott McTominay] can bring the quality we expect from them … we have a lot of quality on the pitch today … a lot of leaders … it will be a nice game to analyse after … the most important thing is to add a winning feeling … we had a good game [in North Macedonia] … we dictated there … today we have to do it … we have to control the game … play with intensity.”
Billy Gilmour adds: “It’s been a good week … hopefully we can transfer our ideas from the training pitch to the match tonight … we know how important it is … it’s our last game at home this year so we want to make sure to send the fans home happy.”
Pre-match postbag, courtesy of our reader. “Fingers crossed this won’t end up in Caledonia v Macedonia anhedonia” – Peter Oh
“Obligatory Bowie joke: it’s too bad Bowie isn’t starting because the gaffer has made ch- ch- changes” – Peter Oh
“Can I just say that the two national flags on display today are fantastic together? The juxtaposition reminds me of those visual tricks. Stare really hard at the North Macedonia flag for a few seconds and then look at a blank white wall. Can you see the Scottish flag?” – Peter Oh (channelling his hitherto-undiscovered inner Jasper Johns)
Scotland first played North Macedonia in the 2010 World Cup qualifiers. It didn’t end well. They did win the return leg at Hampden 2-1, though. The countries met again in qualification for the 2014 edition; that didn’t start well at Hampden but at least the away fixture was won. And then there was last month …
Andy Robertson starts for Scotland and so will win his record-equalling 102nd cap. He’s on a booking, though, so will have to avoid picking up another yellow if he’s to have the chance of taking top spot for himself from Sir Kenny Dalglish in Switzerland on Monday evening. Scott McTominay returns after his heart procedure.
The teams
Scotland: Gunn, Porteous, Graham, Tierney, Gannon-Doak, Ferguson, Gilmour, Robertson, McGinn, McTominay, Adams.
Subs: Kelly, Bain, Hickey, McBurnie, Christie, Hendry, Penrice, McPake, Curtis, Bowie, Patterson, Montgomery.
North Macedonia: Dimitrievski, Ilievski, Mladenovski, Musliu, Alioski, Bardhi, Gashtarov, Elmas, Churlinov, Rastoder, Doriev.
Subs: Taleski, Siskovski, Herrera, Fetai, Meliqi, Nikolov, Omeragikj, Elezi, Gjorgjievski, Stankovski, Despotovski, Maleski.
Referee: Michal Ocenas (Slovakia)
Preamble
When Andrew Robertson plays for Scotland tonight, as he surely will, he’ll join the King at the top of this all-time appearance list …
102: Kenny Dalglish
101: Andrew Robertson
93: John McGinn
91: Jim Leighton
84: Craig Gordon
80: Darren Fletcher
77: Alex McLeish
76: Paul McStay
74: Ryan Christie
73: Scott McTominay
… so it’ll be an evening to remember for the Scotland captain. And yet it’ll sour ever so slightly if Sébastien Pocognoli’s men don’t get at least the point that would ensure their survival in League B, or the win that may keep their promotion hopes alive by a thread. Here’s how the Group B1 table looks right now …
1. Switzerland P4 W4 D0 L0 GD+10 Pts 12
2. Slovenia P4 W2 D1 L1 GD+2 Pts 7
3. Scotland P4 W1 D1 L2 GD-2 Pts 4
4. North Macedonia P4 W0 D0 L4 GD-10 Pts 0
… so with Scotland having already beaten North Macedonia 2-0 at their place last month, and the Macedonians yet to avoid defeat or even score a goal in this group, you’d expect… no, let’s defer to history† and not say that. But dreaming is free, so here’s to the Hampden hosts securing their League B status tonight, and perhaps even retaining that hail-mary hope of a return to League A. Kick-off is at 7.45pm BST. It’s on!
†: Plus it’s Friday 13th, so, y’know.
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